


Bad Blood

by chloefrazerr



Series: hey nosebleed [1]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 3
Genre: Angst, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, F/M, Friends to Enemies, Friendship, Slow Build, Violence, some heavy shite
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-25
Updated: 2016-09-25
Packaged: 2018-08-17 05:17:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8131903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chloefrazerr/pseuds/chloefrazerr
Summary: DeLoria and O'Donoughe. It was a set of names that everyone in the Vault yelled at five times a day. The pair were inseparable, if you saw one wondering the hallways the other wasn't too far behind. That was until they both grew up





	

**Author's Note:**

> Not the Taylor Swift song

**2263**

A girl, no older than five, sat in the corner of the extremely noisy room, a mottled teddy bear held tightly against her chest in a vice like grip. Blue eyes observed the room before her; Amata, Christine and Suzie were all playing dressup and styling each other’s hair. Her gaze lingered on Amata for a few more seconds, the tanned skinned girl surrounded by the other two girls. Evelyn’s Papa always tried to force Evelyn and Amata together whenever he could, he had been doing it for as long as she could remember. She liked to be in Amata’s company when it was just the two of them at her house but that was it really. Christina and Suzie weren’t all that nice to her and Amata would join along with them which always hurt her the most. It felt like someone was kicking her in the gut and it didn’t feel fantastic. Plus whenever Evelyn would go over to Amata’s house to play, the Overseer would always look at her in disgust, an ever present sneer on his face whenever she would appear and she didn’t quite understand why. Was it because her Papa was smarter than he was? In all honesty, Evelyn didn’t care that much, he was a big old meanie.

 

The boys were all chasing each other with fake swords, pretending to be pirates. Her eyes drifted back to the group of girls, feeling a pang of disgust rather than jealousy. Who wanted to play dress up and mess with each others hair? That was dull and boring. Besides, her bright ginger hair was too messy to play with and she didn’t want anyone touching her pride and joy. Instead her envy came as she viewed the boys dashing around. That was was what having fun was meant to be like, running around without a care in the world, living free, the wind flowing in her hair, it was the dream. But she knew that she couldn’t approach the boys, she knew the unwritten rule; girls weren’t supposed to play with boys. She thought that rule was stupid anyways. Evelyn loosened her hold on her teddy bear, moving it into her hands so that the old bear was facing her, its one eye staring at her. 

 

Her Papa told her that this bear was her mother’s when she was a child and he told her to always keep it close to her for it was very precious. And so she did, wherever she went, her teddy did as well. Something it upset her that she never knew her mother, everyone in the Vault knew that mother, how was that fair? She asked her Papa about her Mama all the time and he told her everything about the woman in the greatest depth it was almost like her mother was with them. To add to it, she would draw as many pictures of Papa, Mama, her teddy and herself all the time. Papa stuck all of them in their house, even the terrible ones (though Papa always reassured her that they were all fantastic in their special way). Evelyn glanced up to the other kids briefly before turning her gaze back to her bear.

 

“What should we do Cathy?” She wondered, waiting expectantly for the bear to answer her, she even shook it slightly for a response. When none came, she pouted, her shoulders slumping in defeat. Evelyn knew it in her gut that she was going to end up being a loner in this Vault; she didn’t want to play with the girls and she certainly couldn’t play with the boys. That was fine with her she supposed.

 

Without warning, her bear was stolen from her grip and her heart stopped, head jerking up to see the culprit. Her face twisted when she saw Wally Mack’s ugly mug, his squished sneering at her.

 

“Give that back Wallace!” She yelled, outstretching a tubby hand to her toy, standing up as she did so. His smug face turned sour after she spoke and his hands 

 

“Don’t call me that!” He screamed at her, some of his spit flying into her face, managing to land on her glasses. 

 

Evelyn took no notice to it however, her temper rising the longer he held her most prized possession and was in her presence. In vain, she reached onto her tiptoes, trying to snatch the bear out of his hands only for him to pull away from her and she was far too small to be able to reach him. 

 

“Are you deaf dummy! I said give it back!” Wally pushed her away from him, causing her to stumble backwards, her glasses falling from her nose. 

 

As she landed on her rear, slamming against the ground painfully. Tears began to fill her eyelids, sniffling to make sure that she didn’t cry in front of the audience that had gathered behind Wally. With her now blurry eyesight, she saw that all the other kids were slowly approaching the scene, unsure on what to do. She couldn’t make out their facial expressions from such a distance but she hoped they were just as mad as she was. Who was Wally Mack to push people around he was just some big dumb loser.

 

“What did you say four eyes?” Her eyes widened when she realised that she had spoken what she thought had been in her mind out loud. 

 

There were a few gasps around the room, followed by a hush that was somewhat suffocating to her. In that moment, she realised that she had just made a massive mistake and should have just kept her mouth shut for when she grabbed her glasses and slipped them back onto her nose, her heart stopped. Slowly and excruciatingly, Wally was pulling the arm of her frail teddy bear away in one hand, the body moving in the opposite direction, the seams that attached the limb to the body tearing away.

 

“Stop it! Stop it! That’s my Mama’s!” She wailed loud enough to catch the attention of Mr Brotch in the background, whom simply remained in his seat but kept a keen eye on the situation. 

 

At her words, Wally’s face grew smug, the arm half torn off now, some of the stuffing falling to the floor and with each piece her heart broke. She didn’t have many things of her Mama’s, only the bear, a fob watch that had been a family heirloom (her Papa said that in her Mama’s family tradition, the girls or the first born had to give the watch to someone who was very special to them) and a few pictures of the woman. She wish she had gotten the chance to meet her Mama but that teddy bear was really all that she had. 

 

“Stop being a meanie Wally!” Evelyn thought is her who spoke up in her hyperventilated state but it wasn’t for all heads moved to the left, gasping again in surprise when they saw who it was. 

 

Butch DeLoria. 

 

And his face was redder than a tomato. In fact he appeared to be absolutely fuming; like a bull to a red cape. His hands were clenched fists at his sides, legs and shoulder hunched as though he was about pounce any second. Evelyn didn’t know whether or not to be excited or fearful of Butch.

 

“Wha?” Wally wondered dumbled, grip loosening on her bear, giving her an opportunity to grab it but she was top transfixed on the scene playing out before her. 

 

“You’re being a big bully! Evie said that’s her mommy’s bear, you should not take stuff that isn’t yours!” Evelyn stared at Butch in astonishment, not quite believing what she was hearing. She had never really spoken to Butch before, her father had made sure that they had little to no interaction whatsoever. Apparently Butch was a bad influence and he came from a family that weren’t very nice people. So his defense for her was baffling but she wasn’t about to complain, she couldn’t take Wally on her own. 

 

“What is she? Your girlfriend now? What a loser! Her mommy's dead so what’s so great about this bear!” After that he finally tore the arm clean off the bear's body and there was only chaos after that. 

 

Evelyn lunged herself at Wally with a war cry, feeling only rage rather than utter melancholy as Cathy was destroyed. She tackled him to the floor, his face turning white in shock over her actions. It seemed that he had been expecting her to collapse onto the floor as a mess, the very least her attacking him but she was beyond that now. 

 

Swiftly, she slammed her clenched fists into Wally’s chest, knocking all the air out of him, his once pale face turning bright red. There were some high pitched screams, other still, engrossed to the fight that was happening.

 

Just as Evelyn was about to land another smack on Wally’s face, he beat her too it. His chubby palm pushed against her face, squashing her nose and mouth giving her little room to breath. Fingers wrapped around the bridge of her nose, twisting it hard enough to produce a pop and she felt some liquid trickling out of her nostrils. Before she was given anymore of a chance to retaliate, she was pulled off of Wally, her limbs spasming in every direction, wailing and demanding whoever was holding her to let her go. Some of the blood from her nose fell into her mouth, leaving her coughing and spluttering at the disgusting taste of it. 

 

“Miss O'Donoghue, you must calm down instantly!” It was Mr Brotch, the man easily dragging her away from Wally, whom was surrounded by Freddie and Paul; Amata, Butch, Suzie and Christine nowhere to be seen. Mr Brotch placed Evelyn on his desk chair, holding onto her waist tightly as she struggled against him, in vain trying to escape his grasp. 

 

“He ruined my teddy! He hurt Cathy!” She wailed in his ear, eyes fixated on the evil boy, who was still lying on the floor in agony, fat tears rolling down his face, chest heaving up and down in attempts to control his breathing. Mr Brotch tried to press a tissue to Evelyn nose but when he did, it only resulted in her becoming even more agitated and upset than she already was. 

 

The door to the classroom door lifted, revealing Wally’s Dad, Jonas and her own Papa. When she saw her Papa, her arms reached out to him, trying to jump off the chair to get to him. Thankfully, Mr Brotch loosened his grip on her waist completely and she flew off the chair. 

 

“Evelyn!” James exclaimed when she came close enough for him to notice her, lowering himself to the floor so that his knees were resting on the floor and his backside resting on the heels of his shoes. 

 

He opened his arms quick enough for her to fly into them, her little arms barely able to wrap around his broad shoulders, instead palms pressing against his back. She squished the side of her face against his white jacket, adding colour to it through the bright red blood still gushing out from her nose. 

 

Tears leaked out her eyes again, mainly over the loss of her teddy bear, the agony from her nose and the thought of her Papa’s reaction from her fight with Wally, she didn’t want him to be mad at him. When she let out a choked sob, James released her from their embrace, hands sliding down to hold hers in his own. His blue eyes widen when she saw the state she was in and his let go of her hands and they fell to her sides.

 

“Sweetheart what on Earth happened?” He wondered, taking a handkerchief out his lab coat pocket, gingerly wiping away the fresh blood away from her face, careful not to jolt her nose that had no doubt broken a blood vessel. 

 

His question only succeeded in making her even more upset though there were no tears left, her tear ducts dry. James glanced up at Mr Brotch who was behind Evelyn when she didn’t give a response, gazing at the teacher sternly. 

 

“Edwin? What happened?” He questioned but another voice added to the fray before Mr Brotch had the chance to answer the good doctor. 

 

“Yes, Edwin, what did happen?” It was Allen Mack, sneering down at James and Evelyn. 

 

The latter cowered away from the man, scampering to hide behind James’ shoulder, peeking out to still see what was going on. James frowned slightly at his daughter’s reaction and started to rise from his spot on the floor, eyes never leaving Allen’s as he did. When he stood straight, he was visibly a few inches taller than the man, over towering him and Allen gulped slightly. Evelyn reached up and held onto James’ pinky and ring fingers, her hands too small to wrap around his whole hand. She felt a small smile growing on her face over how Allen was obviously intimatdated by her Papa. 

 

“Well,” Mr Brotch started, pulling the men out of their staring situation and back into the present situation at hand. 

 

“It seemed Wally did something that caused Evelyn to attack him and then they just started fighting before I managed to pull her off him,” Mr Brotch explained lamely, really saying that he didn’t know what truly happened. 

 

James glanced down at his daughter with a frown, “Evelyn Grace Catherine O’Donoughe is this true?” 

 

Evelyn’s blue eyes flashed in fury, letting go of James’ fingers, stepping back to cross her arms over her chest. She glared up at her father defiantly, hating that everyone was acting like this was her fault when it wasn’t at all. 

 

“Wally broke Cathy’s arm off! He started it! He destroyed Mama’s teddy!” She objected, not missing the flash of sadness on James’ face, his blue eyes falling. Allen Mack scoffed, seeming to seen down at Evelyn even more.

 

“Always knew wastelanders were nothing but savages,” He spat and Evelyn’s surge of confidence faltered, her arms falling limply at her sides, bowing her head. 

 

She had no idea what ‘wastelanders’ meant but she could tell by Allen’s tone that it wasn’t meant to be a complementary thing at all. Then she was being lifted off the ground and she gave a squeak in surprise, though she knew it was her Papa. He rested her on his hip, and she looped her stubby arms around his neck, resting her head gently on his shoulder, being careful not to jolt her nose which was now numb.

 

“She is a child Allen, never say that to my daughter again, am I clear?” James spoke, an underlying threat within his voice but he was still gentle when he did. 

 

Allen rolled his eyes, though his face did look slightly panicked no matter how hard he tried to mask it.

 

“Yessir,” He murmured, fixating his eyes on Evelyn who in turn glared back at him pointedly. 

 

“Now if your  _ daughter _ would apologise to Wallace that would be wonderful,” Before Evelyn even had a chance to reply to the man, James’ turned around, away from the rude man whose face went sour at his actions. James ambled over to Jonas, throwing a few words over his shoulder. 

 

“I have my patients to attend to first, apologises Allen,” The man spluttered and Evelyn let out a little giggle, James having a small smile on his face. 

 

They moved over to Jonas, who was checking over Wally, the boy lying on the floor still sobbing his heart out. Evelyn felt a tad bad about seeing Wally in the state that he was but knew he was only doing that on purpose to get her into more trouble than she already was. Jonas was looking extremely distressed, speaking rapidly in hopes that he would calm down though he was failing each time. In fact, Jonas seemed like he was about to burst into tears himself. The man had only just started learning how to become a doctor, that she knew. A month ago he appeared out of nowhere in the clinic and was only doing small jobs as a trainee nothing to major for he was either cleaning or caring for her. She liked Jonas, he was funny and sometimes some of the things he said confused her. 

 

“Everything alright here Jonas?” James wondered, a hint of teasing in his voice. Jonas fixed his glasses on his flaring nose, eyes sharpening to his boss but didn’t say anything.

 

“Yes, everything is perfect,” The teen gritted through his teeth, standing up, having completely given up on Wally. The boy had ceased his wimping now realising that no one was really paying any attention to him now. Jonas glanced down at the now silent boy and huffed, pushing his glasses up his nose in frustration before crossing his arms. 

 

“There’s only slight bruising on his chest from what I can see, I don’t think there’s any broken bones but I’m not too sure,” Jonas explained, slipping into his more professional mode though still maintain an edge in his voice. 

 

Evelyn was lowered to the ground and she gave a large protest, wondering why she and Papa weren’t leaving the classroom, away from the nasty Mack’s. James’ hushed her and she quieted down without a complaint but still furrowed her eyebrows, telling everyone that she wasn’t pleased with her Papa’s choice. He sent the younger man an appreciative smile, his teasing attitude gone now, replaced with his gentle persona returning. 

 

“Thank you Jonas, you have been a big help today. Would you be kind enough to take Evie to the clinic and clean her up a bit while I double check Wally?” Jonas readily grasped Evelyn’s hand, relief clear on his face that he no longer had to deal with Wally Mack anymore no matter how hard he tried to hide it. 

 

He started to drag Evelyn towards the door but she cried out in process; one for her Papa and the other for finding her teddy again. The latter she found to be no where in the room at all, only making her resist Jonas’ insistent pulling on her arm. Her father promised her that he would only be a few more minutes whilst he check on Wally and talked to the other adults. However, that didn’t do anything to calm her, her main worry now being her teddy which seemed to have vanished from the classroom. It had been there when her and Wally had been fighting where could it have possibly gone? Had one of the others managed to swipe it when they all ran out of the room to their parents? Did Wally still have it and was he hiding it? Wanting to destroy it more and make her even more upset with him? Either way, she wasn’t pleased about it but could do nothing to investigate for Jonas was practically dragging her to the clinic, saying words he shouldn’t under his breath at her behaviour. Not that she cared, all she wanted was her mother’s bear back.

                                            -    Ω    - 

  
  


“Papa are you mad at me?” 

 

It was a little while later after the situation in the classroom, lessons having been cancelled for the rest of the day because all the others had been too ‘upset’ to go back and learn anything and Wally was in a very ‘poor’ condition. Translation; Wally Mack was over exaggerating his injuries to everyone so that everyone hated on her for only defending herself and her trying to avenge the destruction of her still missing teddy bear. It hadn’t shown up yet, no matter how many times she had gone around the Vault, questioning its residents if they had seen her most prized possession. The Macks and the Kendall's had instantly shut their doors in her face which made her tear up slightly, unsure as to why they were being so horrible to her for a silly little incident that Mack had clearly started. She even, bravely, ventured up to the Overseer’s office only for him to do much the same. He was stupid man anyways, a meanie, a big dumb-

 

There was a sigh from her Papa on sofa opposite the armchair that she had claimed in their home, pulling her out from her thoughts. James slipped his glasses off his nose, placing them down along with the papers he was gazing at beside him. In that moment, she realised how tired her Papa seemed, his thumb and index finger pinching the bridge of his nose and she felt a flicker of guilt pass over her. No doubt today’s events made him even more exhausted than usual, though she pushed that all away her actions completely justifiable. 

 

“I’m not mad… just disappointed in you,” Her shoulders slumped, her plump lips pressing together in a thin line, bowing her head slightly in shame.

 

“But he -”   
  


“Yes, it was very rude for him to do that to your mother’s toy but Evelyn, sweetie, you don’t attack someone because of it. You have to remain calm in those sort of situations, no matter how much you wanted to hurt them, do you understand?” He explained and she nodded her head to let him know that she understood him completely. 

 

Evelyn knew that she shouldn’t have hurt Wally but she found herself enjoying it and she didn’t quite understand why. Nonetheless, she pushed that away, slipping off her chair towards her Papa in silence. She clambered onto the sofa, struggling to get onto the sofa with her short height, James having to help her up. He chuckled lowly at her. When she managed to get onto the sofa, she plopped herself onto James’ lap, snuggling her head into his chest. 

 

“I’m sorry Papa. I promise it won’t happen again,” She apologized, hands scrunching up James’ lab coat in her fists. 

 

He patted his daughter’s back in reassurance that he was okay with it, “I know you won’t honey, you’re too good to be like that,” There was an emphasis on  _ that,  _ which she didn’t quite understand, again going straight over her head like ‘wastelander’ had earlier with Wally’s father. To her it was pointless and had no reason to her. 

 

Then, there was a tentative rap on their front door leading to the rest of the door that they almost would have missed if they weren’t sitting together in silence. Evelyn jumped off her Papa’s lap and back onto the sofa as the man rose from his seat to see who was here. For Evelyn never liked to go greet people by the door, she chose to remain on the sofa. She twisted around to still take a peek as to who would be there, only her bespectacled gaze and the top of her flaming ginger hair visible over the edge of the sofa. Her blue eyes were locked onto her father as he ambled over to the door, pressing the button next to the door frame and it lifted, revealing none other than Butch DeLoria there. 

 

Her bushy dark eyebrows rose as did James’, both wondering what on Earth Butch DeLoria was doing here. It was unusual for neither had ever really spoken to the boy before and until today, Evelyn didn’t think he even know who she was. She remembered what he had done for her today and she felt a rush of admiration for him. Even though they weren’t friends nor that they hadn’t spoken to each other at all before, he had tried to get her teddy back from Wally and picking her side. It was the first time someone her age did something nice to her, let alone acknowledging her existence. Forgoing her position, she hopped off the sofa and ran towards the door. Her bare feet slapping against the steel floor, caused both to turn to her; James furrowing his once raised eyebrows and Butch’s cheeks turning a darker colour. There was a wide smile on her face as she skidded to a halt, bumping into James’ legs without a care. The man peered down at her strangely as she just stood there, staring at Butch with a face splitting grin, not saying a word to the boy whom was slowly becoming darker in the face with each passing second. 

 

“Hello, Butch. Is there anything I can do to help you? Is your mother-” Butch’s face turned to a scowl on his face when James mentioned his mother, in fact his seemed to be quite distasteful that she had been mentioned at all. 

 

“My Ma’s fine,” He bit out with enough venom that made Evelyn falter in her boy, her smile dimming away at the abrupt change in behaviour. There was an awkward pause as all three didn’t know what to do next, not even the adult who was glancing down at Butch in sympathy that Evelyn didn’t quite understand, knowing that she was missing something again.

 

“I came here to - uh,” Instead of finishing his sentence, his simply thrust something in front of her, Evelyn not even having realised that he was hiding something behind his back. Her eyes widen comically behind her glasses and her jaw dropping open, so wide that she was sure it scraped the floor. In his hands was Cathy, her arm intact… admittedly very hazardly and still on the verge of falling off but she didn’t care whatsoever. In fact, she didn’t care at all for she jumped at Butch, the boy giving a squawk in surprise as she collided into him. Evelyn wrapped her arms around him, her hands joining together behind his back. Too overly excited, she spun them around, giggling gleefully as some tears leaked out of her eyes. This was probably the kindest thing someone had ever done for her in her life and Butch DeLoria was a stranger no less, why would he want to do that for her? She didn’t think of ulterior motives obviously, she was far too pleased with what had happened. When she finally let go of Butch from her Papa’s own instance, she still held onto his free hand, grin still mad on her face. 

 

“Do you wanna stay for dinner?” She wondered joyfully, not even bothering to ask James for permission. If it was possible, Butch’s face turned another shade darker, his eyes flickering to James uncertainly, eyes glistening in unease at the position she put him in. 

 

For the next few seconds, she gazed at him expectantly, barely able to contain her hoping that shook Butch’s poor arm up and down with each movement. She really, really wanted Butch to stay for she wanted him to become her friend. He seemed so much better than all the other stupid lot in the Vault, she didn’t know why but she felt that he would be such a great friend despite the fact that she had never really talked to him before. Not that it mattered, they were going to become best friends in no time. 

 

Finally, after seeming like forever, Butch turned his grey eyes back to Evelyn, now figuratively peeing in excitement in awaiting Butch’s answer. 

 

“Yeah, okay, sure, whatever,” Evelyn shrieked, dragging Butch into her home, whom was now laughing with her, following her in eagerness. Yep, he was definitely going to become her best friend. 


End file.
